August 28, 2008

"When sending an email to multiple recipients from different companies, put addresses in the BCC field. Your audience will appreciate the fact that you are cognizant of protecting their privacy.

"To expound on my point, I am not just talking about large email blasts. For example, I recently received an email from a conference organizer that was sent to the 12 speakers lined up for the next day's agenda. I blanched when I saw all recipient email addresses in the TO field. In listing our addresses in this manner, the sender put our information at risk of being scooped up by anyone desiring to grow their contact database."

August 26, 2008

The web-hosting company I use just emailed me to let me know my contract is being renewed. They used the wrong verb. Do you recognize it?

We certainly hope doing business with us was a pleasing experience.

Because of their choice of verb, I thought our business relationship had ended, but it hasn't.

Their verb choice, was, indicates that something is finished. They should have said it this way:

We certainly hope doing business with us has been a pleasing experience.

The verb phrase "has been" indicates that the past is continuing into the future.

That verb choice mattered. When I read the email, I thought my contract was ending until I read on.

People in business writing classes often ask me about verb tenses, especially past tense verbs. They want to know the difference between verbs such as gave, have given, and had given and was, have been, and had been.

Here's a short lesson with examples:

I gave him the email address. (Past tense--The giving is finished.)

I have given him the email address. (Present perfect tense--The giving is recently finished. The sentence suggests that more may happen. For example, I may have more information to give him, or I may need to give him the email address again because he can't find it.)

He forgot that I had given him the email address. (Past perfect tense, also known as pluperfect--The giving was finished before he forgot. That is, the giving is farther back in time than his forgetting, which is also in the past.)

The verbs was, has been, and had been work the same way:

Victoria was ill. (Past tense--She is no longer ill.)Victoria has been ill. (Present perfect tense--She has recently recovered or the illness continues into the present.)She had been ill for a while before she started this job. (Past perfect tense: Her illness came before her job start. Both are in the past.)

It was has been a pleasure writing this blog. (The pleasure continues!)

August 24, 2008

Barbara of the Bonneville Power Administration in Vancouver, Washington, asked me to write about ensure, assure, and insure. I am happy to write from the U.S. perspective, and I am hoping my friends across the oceans and borders will enlighten us about any differences.

Here is an illustration with all three words:

I assure you that Morgan did ensure that the company will insure both vehicles.

The noun form of insure is insurance. Outside the insurance industry, some people use insure and ensure interchangeably, but careful writers don't.

Let's see if we agree which word goes in each blank:

Please _____ that this does not happen again.

You ought to _____ the painting for $24,000.

Please _____ Mrs. Rio that her coat will be delivered to her today.

How can I _____ that the package will arrive by tomorrow?

I _____ you that the figures are correct.

Before I give you my answers, remember my sample sentence with all three words? Please forget it. It would never be wise to use all three words in one sentence. Doing so would dizzy your readers rather than focusing them on your meaning.

The current Cliff's Grill menu uses a comma, and I agree with it. The dash feels too abrupt. It feels like an elbow to the rib, saying, "Hey, this burger comes on grilled rye bread!" Menus need delicious, smooth descriptions--not efficient, sharp-edged blurbs.

Yes, punctuation creates pace and feelings: smooth, slow, careening, jarring, gentle. I am thinking of the wonderful punctuation story recounted in Lynne Truss's Eats, Shoots & Leaves. It seems that writer James Thurber was questioned about the comma in this sentence: "After dinner, the men went into the living room." He defended the comma and his New Yorker editor, Harold Ross, like this: "This particular comma was Ross's way of giving the men time to push back their chairs and stand."

I applaud Chris for wanting to get that menu punctuation correct. If he keeps it correct and consistent, he will avoid causing indigestion in any former and current English teachers who might have their hearts set on a nicely punctuated Patty Melt or a correctly spelled Turkey Reuben (yes, Reuben is spelled with an eu). And after a good meal, as Thurber would have it, everyone will get up from the table, satisfied with the menu in more ways than one.

Good luck, Chris. You are facing a noble challenge.

********************Would you like to test yourself on the use of hyphens, apostrophes, commas, and semicolons? Get this month's Better Writing at Work. Subscribe for free here.

August 15, 2008

Inspired by the Summer Olympics, I led the "Punctuation Games" for a client yesterday. The sophisticated group took away gold, silver, and bronze medals for their wins in "100-Word Hyphen," "Apostrophe Toss," "Error-Ringing," and a final relay race in which they inserted commas, semicolons, hyphens, and apostrophes.

Apostrophe Toss raised the most questions. Here's one controversial sentence involving the use of the apostrophe:

The position requires at least five years experience in web site development.

The sentence needed to be tossed into the "s apostrophe" basket because the correct rendering is "five years' experience."

But why use the apostrophe? Because years is a possessive form.

Examples:

The opinion of the group is the group's opinion.The reputation of the man is the man's reputation.The rivalry of the teams is the teams' rivalry.The pay of a week is a week's pay.The sabbatical of a year is a year's sabbatical.The experience of five years is five years' experience.

Many people don't like the "years' experience" construction, and I don't blame them. It's odd. But it is also correct.

If you don't want to use phrases such as "a week's pay" and "five years' experience" because they seem odd or awkward, add the word of, like these correct examples:

He is owed a week of pay. The job requires five years of experience.In October he will begin a year of sabbatical.

But if you are happy using "a year's time" and "two weeks' notice," keep on using them confidently. Every punctuation guide on my bookshelf promotes that usage as correct.

For more on the topic of apostrophes and possessive forms, read these past blog posts:

August 13, 2008

I was teaching The Keys to Error-Free Writing in Vancouver, Washington, this week, and one of the hot topics was the placement of periods and commas with quotation marks. When we checked this site in class to see if I had written about the topic (using the search bar on the right), we came up dry.

I have hesitated to cover the topic on this blog. That's because U.S. writers follow a different style from much of the rest of the world when it comes to periods and commas with quotation marks. If you write in a country that follows different rules, please add a comment to enlighten us.

Here are the rules in the United States:

Periods and commas always go inside the closing quotation marks. (There are very rare exceptions to this rule, but I prefer to say always.)Examples:The poem is titled "Ode to the Semicolon." He responded, "This is the way to punctuate with quotation marks." "I cannot remember that rule," Linda announced. "Planning Your Life," which is the first chapter, helps the reader set priorities.

Semicolons and colons always go outside closing quotation marks. This situation doesn't come up often. But when it does, handle it like this: Examples:Mark will read "Punctuation Matters"; Rio will cover the other sections. This is the last line of Frost's "The Road Not Taken": "And that has made all the difference."

To learn about question marks with closing quotation marks, read my post "? Or ?" -- Which Is Correct? If I put quotation marks around the title of the post, it will look like this:

"'? or ?' -- Which Is Correct?"

And if I asked you a question about it, it would look this way:

Have you read my post "'? or ?' -- Which Is Correct?"

Notice that we do not double the question mark at the end of the sentence.

Before anyone even thinks about turning the above example into a direct quotation, I am signing off.

August 10, 2008

One of the rules of business writing is to use consistent language to describe something. For example, steps in a process should be called steps--not actions, phases, or points--throughout the document. Likewise, a series of tips contains tips--not suggestions, instructions, guidelines, strategies, or bits of advice.

The reason for consistency is to keep readers on track. If your readers are following your steps, shifting to the phrase "actionsteps" makes them wonder whether the earlier steps weren't also action steps. Are you offering a new kind of step now?

But if you want to get more traffic to your site, varying your choice of words makes sense. Here's an example: People looking for advice on the rules of business writing are likely to arrive at this very blog post if they use any of the search words I used in the first paragraph: rules, business writing, language, tips, suggestions, instructions, guidelines, strategies, advice, readers, or steps. And now that I have used the words again, they are even more likely to arrive here.

When it comes to searching the Internet, variety is the spice of life--or of your site. Use different words to describe the same thing, and searchers will be more likely to find you and what you have to offer.

August 04, 2008

We all have unconscious habits. I learned about one of mine when I was visiting an elderly relative and she asked me, both of us standing in the kitchen, "Don't you ever close a drawer all the way?" I was confused--until I looked around the room and saw several drawers open about two inches. They were all drawers I had "closed."

That was last year. I still leave drawers open a bit sometimes, but now I notice them open, and then I close them all the way.

Do you have any unconscious habits in your business writing? Last week in a business writing seminar for people in the shipping industry, I noticed an unconscious habit among attendees: "Please advise."

They used "Please advise" in their opening sentences, their closing sentences, and sometimes in the middle, like this:

Please advise of shipping status.Please advise what happened with the delivery. If you have any questions or concerns, please advise.

This use of "please advise" is a habit. It's like my leaving the kitchen drawers open--not a terrible, serious problem. But it does get in the way of a clear, efficient message.

One of the problems with "Please advise" is that advise is a transitive verb, that is, it must have an object. Someone must be advised. For example, I can write, "The doctor advised me about taking supplements" or "I advised him to eliminate the angry tone in his writing."

Some usage experts accept advise in place of inform or tell. Others use advise only in situations that involve advice (as in the doctor's advice on supplements and my advice on eliminating the angry tone). I prefer that limited use.

Here are revisions of the "Please advise" examples above:

What is the shipping status? [or]Please inform us of the shipping status.

Please tell me [us] what happened with the delivery. [or] Please let me know what happened with the delivery.

If you have any questions or concerns, please let me [us] know.

If using "Please advise" is a standard practice in your industry, then improve upon it. For example, "Please advise of shipping status" may seem perfect in your office, but it reads like an old telegram, in which each word cost money. These days, with no additional cost you can add us or me and have a clear, complete sentence: "Please advise us of the shipping status."

It's time to break those old, unconscious habits. Since my elderly relative "advised" me of my habit, I see those open drawers, and I close them. Look for your "Please advise" or other habitual expressions, and get rid of them.